IBhayibheli

 

Ezekiel 2

Funda

   

1 He said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.

2 The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me.

3 He said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.

4 The children are impudent and stiff-hearted: I am sending you to them; and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh.

5 They, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

6 You, son of man, don't be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: don't be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

7 You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.

8 But you, son of man, hear what I tell you; don't be rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.

9 When I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein;

10 He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

   

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #722

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 962  
  

722. 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. This symbolizes John's being carried away in a spiritual state to people in whom everything of the church had been destroyed.

A wilderness symbolizes a church in which there is no longer any truth, thus where everything in it has been destroyed (no. 546). And to be in the spirit means, symbolically, to be in a spiritual state as a result of Divine influx, as said in no. 36 above. Consequently, John's being carried away in the spirit into the wilderness means symbolically that he was carried away in a spiritual state to people in whom everything having to do with the church was destroyed.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

Amazwana

 

Touch

  

Imagine having your mother touch your cheek. Then imagine having your spouse or someone you love romantically touch your cheek. Then imagine having a baby touch your cheek. Then imagine having someone you hate and fear touch your cheek. They're very different feelings, aren't they? They all involve the same nerve endings, stimulated in basically the same ways, but with emotional content that varies to every point of the compass. This is because the sense of touch communicates and actually conveys emotion, communicates and conveys love (both good and bad) between people. That's why the Lord so often touched people as a way of healing them; through touch he could convey His love, which is life itself, to the people he touched. It's also why the people of Israel were not to touch the Ark of the Covenant -- their base loves would be conveyed to the holiness represented by the Ark.